Last uncounted ballots: Moore can’t close 20,000-vote loss

December 20, 2017 GMT

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 photo, U.S. Sen.-elect Doug Jones speaks during a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. Alabama is sorting through write-in votes in last week's U.S. Senate election, though Secretary of State John Merrill says the outcome isn't expected to change.
Merrill announced Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, that counties will check write-in votes under a new state law that only requires poll workers to sort through them if the number of write-ins is higher than the winner's margin of victory. There were 22,814 write-ins. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 photo, U.S. Sen.-elect Doug Jones speaks during a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. Alabama is sorting through write-in votes in last week's U.S. Senate election, though Secretary of State John Merrill says the outcome isn't expected to change.
Merrill announced Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, that counties will check write-in votes under a new state law that only requires poll workers to sort through them if the number of write-ins is higher than the winner's margin of victory. There were 22,814 write-ins. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Republican Roy Moore hasn’t conceded his 20,000-vote loss to Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama’s Senate race, and provisional ballots and military votes still being counted show Moore can’t close the deficit.

Jones beat Moore on Dec. 12 to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in a quarter-century. Moore was beset by allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades ago.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announced Wednesday that a total of 366 military ballots were returned from overseas and 4,967 provisional ballots were cast. That is short of the 20,000-vote deficit that Moore needs to close.

Alabama will certify the election result between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3.

Moore has sent out fundraising emails to supporters asking for donations to fund a fraud investigation.